1980 was a very tough year for Cowboys fans as Roger Staubach was no longer with the team. Most were behind Danny White, who had a very good year, but he was no Roger Staubach.

We finished with a 12-4 record, tied with the Eagles but they won the division title on a very close tie-breaker. Too Tall had returned from his failed attempt to become a professional fighter and Charlie Waters had come back from his knee injury but his mate at Safety, Cliff Harris had retired.

Along with Waters the defensive backfield was made up of a bunch of no-names: Dennis Thurman, Aaron Mitchell, and Steve Wilson. Benny Barnes and Randy Hughes were still around but were hampered by nagging injuries all year. Thurman would turn out to be the best of the newcomers but we struggled in pass defense all season.

The D-Line of Harvey Martin, Randy White, John Dutton, and Ed Jones, with the veteran Larry Cole playing in spot duty played very well as did the LB corps of Bob Breunig, Mike Hegman, and Anthony Dickerson. D.D. Lewis was still around but at 34 he had lost some quickness as well as his starting job.

On offense, we led the NFC once again but Danny threw more INTs than Roger did and cost us a couple of games with them. Dorsett, Newhouse, and Ron Springs did a good job running the ball and Tony Hill was once again our top WR.

In the playoffs, we once again faced the Rams and got revenge on them for last year's loss by stomping them 34-13 in the first round despite White throwing 3 picks in the game.

Danny would redeem himself in imitation of Staubach against the Falcons in the 2nd round as he brought the team back with 3 4th quarter TDs after being down 24-10, to pull out a 30-27 victory in what most consider the best game of his career.

In the NFC Championship game we faced our division rival Eagles and played terribly on both sides of the ball as we allowed Wilbert Montgomery to run at will and pick up 194 yards against us. White didn't throw many INTs, just 1, but he only completed 38.7% of his passes as the Eagles defense completely shut us down. Dorsett and Newhouse could only muster a little over 40 yards each.

Our pass defense played well and kept Jaworski from being a factor, picking off two passes and limiting him to 31% completions and 91 yards through the air but they ran on us at will and beat us 20-7. Three fumbles kept us down as did their control of the ball.

The good thing was that the Eagles would go on to be crushed by the Raiders in the SB.

The good thing was that the Eagles would go on to be crushed by the Raiders in the SB.

I remember that Super Bowl. Everybody thought Philadelphia was going to win that game. Jaworski had a big year and Montogmery, as you said, was having huge success in the later part of the season and in the playoffs. As I recall, he was injured early in that season but came strong. Mean while, Oakland had Plunkett replacing an injured Dan Pastorini that season. Oakland was the Wild Card that year. Oakland completly shut down Montgomery and forced Jawarski into 3 INTs. Completely took away his deep recievers and forced him short. If I remember correctly, he got picked three times by the LBs. Rod Martin of Oakland, I think. On the flip side, Plunkett had a career day with 3 TDs. Branch, Chandler and Kenny King all had big days for Oakland. Oakland was trying to relocate to LA at the time and Rozelle had nixed the idea. There was a big brewhaha over that and everybody wondered what would happen if Oakland, by some miracle won. Would Rozelle present the trophy to Davis or not? Jaws was crushed after that game. He was never the same. I have to admit, I enjoyed watching that very much.

I remember that Super Bowl. Everybody thought Philadelphia was going to win that game. Jaworski had a big year and Montogmery, as you said, was having huge success in the later part of the season and in the playoffs. As I recall, he was injured early in that season but came strong. Mean while, Oakland had Plunkett replacing an injured Dan Pastorini that season. Oakland was the Wild Card that year. Oakland completly shut down Montgomery and forced Jawarski into 3 INTs. Completely took away his deep recievers and forced him short. If I remember correctly, he got picked three times by the LBs. Rod Martin of Oakland, I think. On the flip side, Plunkett had a career day with 3 TDs. Branch, Chandler and Kenny King all had big days for Oakland. Oakland was trying to relocate to LA at the time and Rozelle had nixed the idea. There was a big brewhaha over that and everybody wondered what would happen if Oakland, by some miracle won. Would Rozelle present the trophy to Davis or not? Jaws was crushed after that game. He was never the same. I have to admit, I enjoyed watching that very much.

I was disappointed that the Raiders were in the SB instead of the Chargers as I had picked Dallas and San Diego to be in the big game (actually I picked them 3 years in a row beginning with 1980 and all 3 years Dallas lost in the NFC Championship game and twice the Chargers lost in the AFC). The Raiders were the AFC Wild Card team but had tied with the Chargers in the West at 11-5 so they weren't slouches.

We had beaten both teams in the regular season so I wasn't worried about either of them if we met in the SB but I would have preferred to play the Chargers.

It was Raiders LB Rod Martin who picked off 3 Ron Jaworski passes but Plunkett won the MVP for the game. Jim Plunkett was always sneaking in to play a big game when you least expected him to. Plunkett had played pretty poorly in the Raiders 2 playoff games (vs the Oilers and Browns) leading up to the AFC Championship Game but came on against the Chargers and played very well in the SB. It was kind of strange to see Kenny Stabler playing against his former team in the Oilers game. He outplayed Plunkett but Houston lost anyway.

Plunkett hadn't done squat with the Patriots or 49ERs but with the Raiders he stepped up when needed. In 1983 we were playing them (they were in LA then) and Marc Wilson was the QB and he sucked. The one thing I didn't want to see was for us to knock him out of the game because we were kicking their butts. But John Dutton (I think) hit him a little after he threw a pass and down he went. In comes Plunkett who proceeds to shred our secondary and bring them back for a 40-38 win.

Being a UCLA fan I hated Plunkett when he was at Stanford and was glad when he went to New England where I would rarely see him again only for him to wind up with the Raiders and playing well at the worst possible times.

Anyway, I was glad to see the Eagles lose since they were all talking so much smack, Vermeil was crying his eyes out at every opportunity, and the media was already crowning them after they beat us. I guess they forgot that there was one more game to play. :laugh2:

The Eagles last championship was in 1960, when I was 2! Let's hope it stays that way forever. :starspin

I was disappointed that the Raiders were in the SB instead of the Chargers as I had picked Dallas and San Diego to be in the big game (actually I picked them 3 years in a row beginning with 1980 and all 3 years Dallas lost in the NFC Championship game and twice the Chargers lost in the AFC). The Raiders were the AFC Wild Card team but had tied with the Chargers in the West at 11-5 so they weren't slouches.

We had beaten both teams in the regular season so I wasn't worried about either of them if we met in the SB but I would have preferred to play the Chargers.

It was Raiders LB Rod Martin who picked off 3 Ron Jaworski passes but Plunkett won the MVP for the game. Jim Plunkett was always sneaking in to play a big game when you least expected him to. Plunkett had played pretty poorly in the Raiders 2 playoff games (vs the Oilers and Browns) leading up to the AFC Championship Game but came on against the Chargers and played very well in the SB. It was kind of strange to see Kenny Stabler playing against his former team in the Oilers game. He outplayed Plunkett but Houston lost anyway.

Plunkett hadn't done squat with the Patriots or 49ERs but with the Raiders he stepped up when needed. In 1983 we were playing them (they were in LA then) and Marc Wilson was the QB and he sucked. The one thing I didn't want to see was for us to knock him out of the game because we were kicking their butts. But John Dutton (I think) hit him a little after he threw a pass and down he went. In comes Plunkett who proceeds to shred our secondary and bring them back for a 40-38 win.

Being a UCLA fan I hated Plunkett when he was at Stanford and was glad when he went to New England where I would rarely see him again only for him to wind up with the Raiders and playing well at the worst possible times.

Anyway, I was glad to see the Eagles lose since they were all talking so much smack, Vermeil was crying his eyes out at every opportunity, and the media was already crowning them after they beat us. I guess they forgot that there was one more game to play. :laugh2:

The Eagles last championship was in 1960, when I was 2! Let's hope it stays that way forever. :starspin

Yep, your right. Plunkett could not throw an out to save his life. Everything was lofted and soft. He looked like a wounded duck with a stick up his back side every time he tried to scramble but that guy would just get it done. I too liked San Diego back then. Those were the old Fouts Air Coryell teams and they were awsome offensively. In 1980, Fouts completed 59% of his passes, threw for 4715 yards and 30 TDs. Muncie ran for 659 yards, 4.9 YPC and caught another 234. Winslow had 1290 yards, Jefferson had 1340 and Joiner had 1132. They were awsome. Between 79 and 81, Fouts threw for 13599 yards, 60% completion percentage and tossed 87 TDs. They were just unbelievable. Just couldn't stop anybody is all.

I also remember the game your talking about. Christiansen had a big game against us, as I recall, and he rubbed it in to anybody who would listen.

With regards to that Oakland team that beat the Eagles, there's a funny story (well, not funny depending on what side of the story your on but...) about the Raiders and how hard they partied. Story goes that the Raiders were out howling well past 3 AM the morning of the game. Story goes that John Matuzak was seen out at a club with the wife of former NY Giants QB Charley Connerly well past Midnite. Was with her for hours and left with her sometime after 3. That was a huge deal at the time, as you can imagine.

Anyway, I'm with you. I was very happy to see the Eagles get stomped in that one.

Bitterly cold weather doomed us in Philly. Either that or they were spent from the Atlanta comeback. Hanging 50+ on Seattle and Frisco ain't too shabby.

The guy in this picture was William Andrews, if I recall correctly. He was as tough as they come. Just a excellent RB while he lasted. In fact, he kinda reminds me of Larry Johnson a little bit. He was one heck of a running back.

Story goes that John Matuzak was seen out at a club with the wife of former NY Giants QB Charley Connerly well past Midnite. Was with her for hours and left with her sometime after 3. That was a huge deal at the time, as you can imagine.

Charlie Conerly's wife? Are you sure? I hope she was a lot younger than Charlie because he would have been 56 in 1980. Although, nothing about Matuzak would surprise me, not even being with a woman who was old enough to be his mother. :laugh2:

Charlie Conerly's wife? Are you sure? I hope she was a lot younger than Charlie because he would have been 56 in 1980. Although, nothing about Matuzak would surprise me, not even being with a woman who was old enough to be his mother. :laugh2:

I don't know if it was the original model or a younger version but I'm certain that it was Charlie Conerly's wife he was with. It was a big deal at the time. Curfew was like 10 o'clock in those days and it was a very hush hush thing. In those days, everything was not reported in the media 10 minutes after it happens. In those days, agencies kept a lot of stuff under the rug, so to speak. I'm sure it was the wife of Conerly though. With that whole bunch, nothing was out of bounds.